Front Row: 'Noises Off' is loaded with laughter

Ten years ago, I had the pleasure of performing in a production of one of the funniest comedies ever written, Michael Frayn's "Noises Off." Pensacola Little Theatre brings "Noises Off" back to a local stage with performances opening tonight in the company's Mainstage.

Premiered in 1982, "Noises Off" represents the pinnacle of the "show within a show," drawing laughter at every turn.

Act One of "Noises Off" depicts a rehearsal of Act One of the show within the show, a dreadful farce titled "Nothing On."

Act Two of "Noises Off" is Act One of "Nothing On" a month into its run. In this very clever sequence, the entire set has been turned around. The focal point now becomes all the shenanigans going on "backstage" while Act One of "Nothing On" is actually performed in the upstage direction and is only seen by the audience through various "backstage" openings.

Act Three of "Noises Off" depicts Act One of "Nothing On" ten weeks into the run. The set has been turned back around so that the show within the show is now being played out to the audience again. Here, everything that can go wrong does, and "Nothing On" goes completely off the rails.

In 2004, I played the role of Lloyd Dallas, the director of the show within the show. I couldn't resist inviting my alter-ego (ten years later), Dr. Stephen Lott, to make a guest appearance for this week's column. Maintaining his prickly Lloyd Dallas persona, Lott offered these comments about his cast for "Nothing On."

"Dotty Otley (Carol Thomas), the grande dame of this production, in her prime was quite an adequate performer, now I fear she is a few sardines shy of a full tin," he said. "She does maintain her lust for life, or at least for young men as she insists on hand-picking all her younger male co-stars. Her fingerprints are all over them."

"Garry Lejeune (Jay Bixler), Dotty's boy toy de jour, is a man of few words, well few articulate ones anyway. He brings a fiery passion to the stage, and off stage, and anywhere he feels he has been slighted or wronged."

"Selsdon Mowbray (Norm Boyd), the most seasoned member of our team, is quite the sharp and compelling performer, at least when he's sober, or so I'm told, I've never actually seen him dry."

"Brooke Ashton (Kat Cooper), our sweet ingénue, performs with exhausting sexual passion, and she isn't half bad on stage either, as long as she's not required to deviate from the script in even the slightest way."

"Fredrick Fellows (Mike Dinwiddie) is one of those actors always seeking to know more. What's his motivation? Why am I here? How do doors work? His brain should be donated to science as there are no indications that he has ever used it."

"Belinda Blair (Lisa Johns) is what you would call the nurturing mother of the group, in a 'Mommy Dearest,' Mother Bates sort of way. She could kill you with kindness or a fire axe, whichever is most handy."

I would be remiss if I didn't mention our backstage crew. Poppy Norton-Taylor (Maureen McNeill), our assistant stage manager, is the glue that holds this show together — which is to say she is rather tacky, yet is one of the nicest women I've ever had under me. And what can I say about Tim (Ryan Ward), our stage manager, who single-handedly put up our set backwards in one day? He certainly tries — mostly, my patience."